From England to America: The Odyssey of the William and Margaret Wilcockson Family

To be published in 2016.

William Wilcockson was one of the progenitors of the Wilcox/Wilcoxson family in America, coming to New England with his wife Margaret and son John on the ship Planter in 1635.

Find out the true story behind their decision to emigrate from Derbyshire, England, and the circumstances that drove them to leave all that they knew in England and face a harsh wilderness in America with other Puritans and non-Puritans alike in Massachusetts and then Connecticut. Find out what their Puritan beliefs were about religion, about sex, about death, about child-rearing, about food. Step into their shoes for a day and see what their society, their politics, their education, their religion was all about. Some religion historians have called the Puritans of New England religious fanatics ~ see for yourself.

With new and original research in New England and England, Jane Wilcox dispels the myths and inaccuracies that have been spread about William Wilcockson and his family in print for more than a century and more recently on the Internet. Jane presents her theory that Puritan William was the son of tanner William Wilcockson of Biggin by Hulland, Derbyshire, and his as-yet unknown first wife. Learn how Puritan William was disinherited as the eldest son of tanner William and forced to take up another trade — weaving — to make his living. Find out the Derbyshire connections between Puritan William and Margaret and the charismatic non-conformist Puritan minister Rev. Adam Blakeman/Blackman at Heage, Derbyshire.

In the book you will learn that it’s not true that:

• William and Margaret were from St. Albans in Hertfordshire
• Margaret’s maiden name was Birdsey or Hazzard.
• William died in November 1652 or 1653.
• William spelled his name William Wilcoxson.
• William and Margaret had a tenth child.

Click here to be among the first to be notified when the book is released for sale in 2016. Look also for a series of articles before the book comes out.